When Media Shill For Saudi Money

The Saudi government and its affiliates have spent millions of dollars on U.S. law, lobby and public relations firms to raise the country’s visibility in the United States and before the United Nations at a crucial time. ... Five lobby and PR firms were hired in 2015 alone, signaling a stepped-up focus on ties with Washington. The firms have been coordinating meetings between Saudi officials and business leaders and U.S. media, ...

The Saudis are particularly angry about the Iran nuclear deal, and they believe that only the next U.S. president -- whether it's Hillary Clinton or even Donald Trump -- will be able to restore Saudi Arabia's status as America's key ally in the Middle East.

The biggest sellout yet is Bloomberg which whored out the May issue of Businessweek, including the cover, to a Saudi prince:

In Prince Mohammed, the U.S. may find a sympathetic long-term ally in a chaotic region.

The Saudi mafia clan is not just itself corrupt. It is massively corrupting others. It bribes them to do take part in their crimes, no matter how nefarious. Just consider this, mentioned in the WaPo lobby piece above:

In 2014, consultants at the PR firm Qorvis developed content for the Saudi Arabia embassy’s YouTube and Twitter pages, and ran the Twitter account for the Syrian Opposition Coalition.

The Saudis are the major money behind the war on Syria. They are building ISIS and Al-Qaeda not only in Syria but also in Yemen and elsewhere. A former Saudi foreign minister, quoted in in yesterdays Financial Times (see here), admitted such:

Saud al-Feisal, the respected Saudi foreign minister, remonstrated with John Kerry, U.S. secretary of state, that "Daesh [ISIS] is our [Sunni] response to your support for the Da'wa" - the Tehran aligned Shia Islamist ruling party of Iraq.

Whoever shills for the Saudis should be considered adhering to enemies.

@1 Both are tools for implementing "divide and conquer" strategy of the British Empire, which was created by the cabalists (also masons, rosocrucians) John Dee and his protege Francis Bacon (aka "William Shake-speare"), who also designed The New Atlantis project, known today as the USA, which was also such tool until November 6 2012.

You cite NYT's, Brookings, Newsweek, etc., as all publishing positive ideo-spiel re Saudis but you never really address the hands that operate the puppets? I am of the opinion that the countries not being attacked militarily by these acronym identified bands of paid murderers are in fact the sponsors of this mayhem. I know who the 'they' are ...

This from a May 23, 2013 Vice President Joe Biden speech ...

"In a remarkable but under-reported address, Vice President Joe Biden recently acknowledged that the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life has been the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural- political changes.

“Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that's a fact," Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders on May 21, 2013, in Washington, DC. “The truth is that Jewish heritage, Jewish culture, Jewish values are such an essential part of who we are that it's fair to say that Jewish heritage is American heritage,” he added. /1"

"Biden might also have mentioned that of the nine current US Supreme Court justices, three are Jewish, and that Jews are vastly overrepresented in other high-level federal, state and city government posts. He could have mentioned that the chairman of the Federal Reserve System, and the mayors of America's three most populous cities – New York, Los Angeles and Chicago – are Jewish."

thanks b and especially for saying this : "The Saudis are the major money behind the war on Syria. They are building ISIS and Al-Qaeda not only in Syria but also in Yemen and elsewhere." isis/al qaeda - the wahabbi or wahabbi light brand of saudi arabia exports..

the msm has been bought by the highest bidder.. news reporting is just a front for selling propaganda..

the world is beholden to money... that is the first and most important god to most, including the godless saudi's...

AmeriKKKa's Right-wing Cranks must be really, really pissed off about something to agree that this kind of whiney drivel, angst, and wishful thinking serves any useful purpose. My guess is that it's suddenly dawned on them that Putin is well on the way to ruining their loopy plans for Syria and there's not a damn thing WaPo, JYT, Daily Beast, or the Think Tank Brigands can do (or say) to stop him.

In 2011 Syria was just another pissy little country that AmeriKKKa could "smash against the wall" for no particular reason. But not any more, because Putin can smash any neo-colonial coalition they can dream up, against the same wall.

I don't comment here often, but I read every post and every comment. I just wanted to chime in and say how much I value the content at this site and those who contribute to the discussion; this place is by far my favorite source of political analysis.

My concerns are that Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey are getting way too close. Egypt looks like it's giving the two islands at the Strait of Tiran to Saudi Arabia. These are at the inlet to the Gulf of Aqaba which has Israel's port at its northern end. Ok, SA could still control the access if need it needs to.

"An Israel-based website revealed that Maj.Gen. Ram Rothberg, the Commander of the Israeli Navy, has allegedly asked President Obama to bring the matter of Tiran and Sanafir Islands in his talks with the Saudi king in his Wednesday’s tour to the Middle-East in order to help Israel eventually procure the two strategic islands in the Red Sea. During the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) 2008 conference in Washington, the Israelis promised Saudi Arabia that they will exert their influence to convince Cairo to confer the sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir Islands to KSA, according to “Hona Ma’ak Dayeman” website. On April 11, Egypt officially ceded the two strategic islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia during King’s Salman visit to Egypt."

Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, b? Instead of your usual perceptive geo-political analysis, did you find your pantry empty and so simply throw a raw red steak on the floor for your increasingly mindless commenters to slaver over?

Whoever shills for the Saudis should be considered adhering to enemies.

You are starting to sound like George Bush: You are either with us or against us.

The Saudi mafia clan is not just itself corrupt. It is massively corrupting others... The Saudis are the major money behind the war on Syria... Whoever shills for the Saudis should be considered adhering to enemies.

It is unclear to me what exactly you are trying to say.

Are you saying that Saudi money corrupted and bribed a reluctant US and EU into providing weapons, intelligence, military strategists, advisers on the ground, etc. into a Saudi driven war? Please correct me if I'm wrong, because it sure sounds like that is what you are implying.

Are you implying by your examples that the evil worm of Saudi money has finally succeeded in corrupting the heretofore incorruptible American free press, the gleaming diadem of American Democracy?

And what was the initial role of Qatari money in all of this? Someone recently asked about the strange disappearance of Qatar's Muslim Brotherhood, who were instrumental in instigating this bloodbath in Syria, and then seemingly disappeared into thin air when large scale fighting broke out.

Is it only an urban legend or myth that there is a vast empire of some 1000 military bases encircling the globe; that there is an endless printing press of US dollars, which far exceeds the vast but limited supply of Saudi corrupting money; that there exists a determined elite intellectual cadre of several hundreds of thousands at least dreaming, scheming and implementing all manner of anti-democratic subversion: Color revolutions, wars based upon lies, huge non-representative structures like the EU, western corporate drafted trade deals like TPP, structures like the WTO and World Bank, intellectual property rights, global control of agriculture through terminator seed technology, etc.( One could go on endlessly elaborating this structure, but I believe the point has been made.)

Is it only a scare story put out by idiotic conspiracy theorists that this vast globe encircling apparatus seems to work together in a unified, and organized manner to step-by-step implement what the US military has officially called a "Grand Imperial Strategy," and what laymen might term a Western dominated "New World Order," and that several millions, at the very least, of wealthy and powerful people across the globe (of many faiths and nationalities) see themselves as benefiting from this order?

Or is it more likely that Saudi money is corrupting the nice, freedom loving, law-abiding, only want the best for everyone, Western Democracies? Is Descartes driving the horse, or is the horse driving the cart?

More to the point: Are the Saudis being demonized because the Empire suddenly hates demons and injustice, or are they being demonized because they are straying from the reservation, and if the latter, then in what way? Or is their sell-by date about to expire: the Empire has a history of reshuffling the deck and turning an altogether new set of royal cards face up (despite the fact that there are only a limited set of suits). This is more the kind of analysis one would expect of you, but if you throw raw meat at your readers than you can't be blamed for the fact that 40% of your readers believe that the Saudis are responsible for 9-11, and another 40% believe that "the Joos" did it.

Hint #1: The "box-cutter" myth originated from one single physically impossible (hence, didn't happen) phone call from a hijacked plane. A box-cutter is not a utility knife; it is a specialized tool used in the grocery and retail industries to only cut the thickness of a cardboard box (approx 3/16") so that the contents of the box are not damaged.

Hint#2: What is the first thing the Russians did when they established their two tiny bases in Syria? They protected them against all manner of attack (invasion, artillery, missiles, etc.) Was this some type of novel and brilliantly innovative Russian military strategy being unveiled to the world, or was this as elementary as dotting an "i"? Would not one therefore suppose that the empire has similarly protected its archipelago of bases, and indeed the very nerve center of that empire of bases -- the Pentagon? Or would one deny the obvious and suppose that after 15 trillion in real (not inflation adjusted) dollars were spent on US "defense" from the building of the Pentagon, through the entire cold war, and until 9-11, that no one had thought of protecting the base of bases, the military heart of the Western Empire from attack by a civilian passenger plane? And further, that, if this were so, no one would be held responsible? And further that those responsible for air defense would not be fired but rapidly promoted?

Could this be the work of Saudis? Of Jews undermining the vast historic US Protestant oligarchy of ruling families and fortunes?

Hint #3: There are Jews who work for and benefit from the Empire, and Saudis as well. But the nexus of power, privilege, and control is vastly larger -- by an order of magnitude -- than one religious, ethnic, or national group.

It's interesting that the competition didn't merit a prize until a reader offered to stump up a cash prize (and the Spectator wouldn't have mentioned it if the reader hadn't submitted the cash along with the promise).

$o, i$ any body really $urpri$ed?
Come on, we're talking about the 'good old U$.'
When ha$ money NOT talked?
It is THE common theme in everything we do ... everything!
Thi$ i$n't a $ell out ... or a lack of integrity. It i$ $imply bu$ine$$ a$ u$ual. The only $urpri$e i$ that the $audi are being more flagrant than u$ual.
What really boggle$ the mind i$ the reaction of all of you good folk$. You'd think that people a$ $ophi$ticated a$ you $eem to think you are, would react with anything le$$ than $imple acknowledgement that dollar$ talk.
Until the economy cra$he$ and the dollar i$ not king, you can expect thi$ $ort of thing. It will be ugly, and it will hurt. Many of u$ may not $urvive ...
Protecting the $y$tem i$ all that matter$ for the U$ and our alleged allie$. Who want$ to bet that if either Bernie or Trump become Pre$ident of the U$ that either can make it through four year$ without being A$$A$INATED? Only Killary will be able to avoid that end: $he'$ already a bought and paid for whore.

@15 magoola... entertaining post, although i am sure that wasn't the first priority in your commentary..

perhaps the reason the saudis appear to be in the process of being thrown under the bus has to do with the fact they are just another useful tool for the powers that be, just like 9-11 was another tool for the powers that be.. however, the close association with the cult of wahabbi/isis/al qaeda and saudi arabia is very difficult to ignore so a new tact must be taken.. calling out saudi arabia would be a good starting point, even if it doesn't address the central power structure that has been authorizing all of this new world order.. like a monster with many heads, chopping off this one ( and i think that is what this looks like ) will mean pointing back to the msm - another head of the monster, that also needs to be chopped off... i can't see this happening any time soon, but if b opts to point out how the msm is a whore for saudi arabia and available to the highest bidder - i see no disconnect in any of that..

regarding 9-11 and the 80% MOA posters who you suggest think the saudis or the jews were responsible, i think there are a few more then that here who can see between the lines and know when their chain is being yanked and they are being had... thanks for your comments either way...

Stupid question: why the most traded commodity is called "light sweet crude"? Does anyone drink it or uses it to top the pancakes?

Concerning Bloomberg cover, is it just me, or the prince on the cover looks really sleezy? As he were charming a potential buyer of the Brooklyn bridge or closing the deal with an easy girl.

"Even without money - although that definitely helps - media whores..." top @23

Dear Tom, I must share with you a lesson I learned as a naive lad. In the trade, there is no worse insult than "cheap whore", i.e. one who works for less money. As observed during a long tirade of an expensive one directed at a cheap one. And who is on the top of the trade? Kept women who do not collect fees on per trick basis but have a long term lucrative arrangement. Major think tanks get fat contributions and the staff has to toil to keep them flowing. "Pentagon" is purchased by insanely lucrative deals for MIS, the best job a retired general can get is in arms industry. And so on.

The New York Mercantile Exchange designates petroleum with less than 0.42% sulfur as sweet.[1] Petroleum containing higher levels of sulfur is called sour crude oil.

Sweet crude oil contains small amounts of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. High-quality, low-sulfur crude oil is commonly used for processing into gasoline and is in high demand, particularly in the industrialized nations. Light sweet crude oil is the most sought-after version of crude oil as it contains a disproportionately large fraction that is directly processed (fractionation) into gasoline (naphtha), kerosene, and high-quality diesel (gas oil). The term sweet originates from the fact that a low level of sulfur provides the oil with a mildly sweet taste and pleasant smell. Nineteenth-century prospectors would taste and smell small quantities of oil to determine its quality.[2]

a.) current MSM push re: Saudi Arabia is just a fun bunch of guys who wear checkered tablecloths on their heads. And Dubya Bush enjoyed holding hands and kissing them on the lips. Plus they keep Clairol in the black with hair dye business.

b.) Dreaded, ominous 28 pages to be revealed very soon which links Saudis with nine elva!

Note: MSM won't print jack without approval of deep gov.

Suggest a limited hangout in some of this. The bullshit is very deep. PS. Saudis are not key to nine elva.

Countries belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council are now waiting for concessions from the US side in response to their failure to raise the price of oil. In particular, this applies to US relations with Iran.

Obama is expected to propose measures to deter Iran in the region, including the expansion of the US missile defense system in the region.

In addition, Obama will make concessions on Syria, as the Wahhabi monarchy wants him to increase pressure on Assad and Putin. After Obama's visit to Riyadh, the failure of talks on Syria is possible since the position of the irreconcilable opponents of Assad will strengthen.

In addition, the Wahhabis demand that the United States increase its participation in the war in Yemen.

The result of the negotiations is likely to be a tougher US position towards Russia and Iran on a range of key international issues including the situation in Syria, the nuclear and missile programs of Iran, and the conflict in Yemen.

At the same time, the US will once again turn a blind eye to the numerous human rights violations of the Gulf monarchies.

The Saudis and the GCCs want parity with Israel when it comes to US indulgence of their black fetishes. The 'good news on Saudi Arabia' blitz is not aimed at the US government, which is already leading from behind in nearly every scene of terrorist national dismemberment around the world, but at the US populace, who need to get the latest memo reminding with whom Oceania's always been entangled and allied, and with whom Oceania has always been fighting. The media are just manning the revision desks and the memory holes. They're pocketing the proffered bucks to keep the Saudis thinking their moola makes them powerful, that the Saudis themselves are swaying opinion and calling the shots. It's not the Saudis or the Israelis, it's the home-grown fusiliers, financiers, and fossil-fuelers, metastasized now world-wide, the TNCs.

Cited piece was written May 21, 2013. Di Blasio did not become mayor till 2014. Bloomberg serving his 'against the voters illegal judge bought third term' was in office May 21, 2013

Not to be outpandered Di Bla$io visited Israel in October 2015 and said ...

"We understand that any act of violence against a civilian is unacceptable and we have to condemn it and we have to stop it," he said. "Because there can't be peace when civilians are wantonly attacked just for going about their business."

@ Jay M wrote: so we are in bed with everybody that tailors their wear vis a vis religion

I would expand on that to say that the religion that binds them all is private finance and inheritance, which I can call the Gawd of Mammon. The Gawd of Mammon, in Middle earth terms, is the ring that rules them all.

To the extent that the House of Saud continues to serve its usefulness to the Gawd of Mammon, it will be praised/sacrificed for the "good" of empire. Empires also come and go but the gawd of Mammon keeps thriving through it all

And, to the heart of the posting, the Fairness Doctrine in the media became extinct in 1987. It was the shiny token of my day that spoke of intent to do the right thing and then they took it away. I noticed.

This is really disgusting but should be no surprise. It is part and parcel of the US-KSA relationship. Part of the swap of protection and political influence for money and control of Saudi policy and resources that was worked out many, many decades ago. As fundamental to the dynamic between the two countries as the petro-dollar.

The Saudis of course have no restraint on how they spend their money of their absolutist dictatorship - the world's only wholly single family owned country as far as I know. And American's are absolutely willing to be bribed by anyone. Its considered "entrepreneurial" and "capitalistic" and the highest form of political expression - as Hillary Clinton's $27M take on her income taxes should prove.

The conspiracy theories around the "redacted pages" were generating a predictable tidal wave of islamophobic hate speech .... so they turned on the lovable and cuddly and reliable ally channels ... particularly since Obama has said he will veto the legislation that would allow American citizens to sue KSA for 09/11 "losses" ... which utterly confuses me since the supreme court just ordered that IRAN has to pay damages awarded from lawsuit against Iran for it's alleged "terrorism" ...

Lots of folks are "caving" to the Saudi threat to find other places to stash their wealth ... and divest their American assets in favor of some more "appreciative" berth.

BBC this morning (from yesterday -- Obama in Riyadh ) had a nauseating segment of good questioning of an Obama admin alum being questioned as to whether American arm sales to KSA should be reconsidered (umm maybe stopped or limited) in light of war crimes in Yemen ... he explained that as long as the Saudis were not using those arms "against their own people" the arms sales were within the law ... using them for war crimes in Yemen -- A-OK ... He also claimed that some new improved timer clusterbombs mitigated their documented unholy carnage ... the reporter obviously was unimpressed by his "logic" and so was I. Richard Clarke and someone else on the commission were also briefly interviewed wrt to the redactions (two separate segments -- 09/11 and Saudi arm sales) and both said that the 28 pages held no smoking guns, if a few nuggets -- e.g. someone in San Diego knew one of the Cole "terrorists" ...

I work for a tow company that has a few impound accounts at the local uni.

From time-to-time I am tasked to release impounded vehicles. I released a vehicle to a sultan. He was a college aged kid with a vanity plate of "SULTAN" and the only form of ID he could come up with was his Saudi passport. And IIRC the vehicle was registered to a trust.

He was a nice kid. Had no attitude and was nice. I think it was more of an experience than a PITA or monetary setback.

I asked him how long he had been here and if he liked it. He said a little over a year and really liked it here.

The one ring needs a Sauron incarnation to wield it for its true purpose. I don't see a proper analogue around today. I think even the most mighty groups we all slather about here are just delusional cogs in a greater machine ,the true nature of which only the most blessed get an occasional glimpse of. They are only people - just like you and me, the greater machine contains us all as an insignificant fraction of its make up.

According to Pepe Escobar this US/ Saudi kerfuffle regarding the 28 pages and Saudi investments was simply a pressure tactic to ensure that SA would toe the line at the Doha summit (re: freeze on oil production).

A famous 3 am call did take place in Doha on Sunday. The young Salman called the Saudi delegation and told them the deal was off. Every other energy market player was stunned by the reversion.

Yet the true story, according to a financial source with very close links to the House of Saud, is that “the United States threatened the Prince that night with the most dire consequences if he did not back down on the oil price freeze.”…

As the source explains, an oil production cut would have “hindered the US goal of bankrupting Russia via an oil price war, which is what this is all about.

“There is going to have to be, a recalibration of our relationship with America -- how far we can go with our dependence on America. How much can we rely on steadfastness from American leadership. What is it that makes for our joint benefits to come together,” he told CNN.

“And I don’t think that we should expect any new president in America to go back to, as I said, the yesteryear days when things were different,” Faisal added.

The people in power in the US can live with high-priced oil or low-priced oil. What they need is Saudi money in play bolstering the petrodollar and spinning off interest and commissions.

We ordinary Americans need a 'clean break' in the Middle East, with the KSA, Israel, fossil-fuels. Obviously the key to that clean break is a clean break at home, with the present ruling class that has so entangled us in the Middle east and all over the world : the fusiliers, the financiers, and the fossil-fuelers. A radicle change, and the results will mean salvation not only for the Middle East, but for ourselves as well. We'll have to seize power ourselves to accomplish it.

Another thing that distorts Americans' view of Islam and the Arab world is the totally spurious notion that the Saudis are somehow "moderates" because they are America's allies. They promote and support a virulent form of fundamentalist Islamism in the form of Wahabism. Their society is feudal in its structure and medieval in its legal and social systems.

The USA would do well to disengage themselves from these "allies" as quickly as possible.

Zionist printing Saudi influence in America sure sounds like another Zionist misdirection to me.
Takes the heat off the totally dominate Zionist influence,eh?
SC says Iran liable for 2 billion.Holy moly,are we that tone deaf to not realize that the world could sue US for a trillion?I wonder how the Jews on the SC voted?(didn't see it)

As the source explains, an oil production cut would have “hindered the US goal of bankrupting Russia via an oil price war, which is what this is all about.

Yes, the Saudis were "persuaded" to hold off cracking-the-whip ... and ruining our little recovery. Another front page NYT article on the spiraling white-middle-class-middle-ages suicide rates. I guess our "consumer confidence" is less than hoped for ... and since it-all-depends on average working Americans spending money they don't have (earned working the crappy jobs that their replaced their prior better jobs, true even if their employer and job title remained the same).

I've been wondering what the "new bubble" will be. The string of bubbles and bubble collapses ... particularly in an election year in which no one is promising to do anything "real" about structural change (definitely including our endless deep vulnerability to KSA demands) to prevent the next collapse of whatever illusory happy-days-are-here-again provider of some jobs to some people in a potemkin sort of demonstration of economic vitality and reasons for hopefulness. Blech. Fracking (and exportation of fracking technology) was the last wanna-be bubble ... KSA pruned that back to a nubbin.

In the final analysis, "the enemy" is NOT a pliable foreign ally, political puppet, or foot soldier. These are merely symptoms. It is elite circle-jerks that protect a corrupt system.

Cui bono? Extremists have been very beneficial to Western elites. As a terr0r!st threat that prompts an expanded police state. And as a proxy army.

Domestic control would've had to increase anyway due to predatory capitalism (aka the "War on the Middle Class") in the form of: trade deals; 'outsourcing'; corporate raiders/private equity; immigrant 'guest workers'; financialization; and outright fraud like subprime mortgages. The trillons of dollars of value sucked away from ordinary people was bound to cause discontent eventually.

Twenty years after being fooled via a "shared sacrifice - trickle-down" shell game, and lulled to sleep with a volunteer mercenary army and easy credit, populist anger against the 'rigged' economy and 'rigged' political system is finally being expressed.

Interesting John Batchelor segment suggesting that Israel and KSA may pivot to Russia to "fill" American shoes in arms sales and influence, resulting in much needed revenue (and "presence") for Russia and Putin.
Apparently Netanyahu concluded his visit pleased at reassurance of alignment in security interests ... this could get interesting ... when traditional BFF's quarrel ... segment has an appearance by John Bolton who predicts Obama will shiv Israel after the election when gloves are off and he's unconstrained. I have no idea what to make of this. (04/21/2016, looks like hour #2) (Per a Batchelor tweet, Stephen Cohen is on sabbatical, no word on date of return).

Applying Malooga's Descartes before the horse criticism @15 would make what we see as 'blackmail' into 'greenmail'. The cost of safeguarding/propping-up our 'puppet'. USA has long sought to force EU to pay for empire building like Ukraine.

As USA-KSA-Israel-Turkey-etc. collude behind the scenes, what we see/read/hear is just meant to massage/confuse our understanding.

Thom Hartman would call it Kabuki ... I'm just impressed by the media ho-hum and notice that the refugee crisis has left the news as more and more stories suggest Team Obama may be having second thoughts about their "reasonable" ("non-intervention") in Syria, regrets that they didn't force regime change at the end of a gun (or by bomb) back at the red-line-crossing moment ...
Feeling like the atmosphere is building for a "crisis" ... The Truther movement managed to make any serious inquiry into 09/11 damn near impossible by branding any doubters as cranks and conspiracy loons. The idea that there are vast truths to be revealed in the redacted pages has also been a useful if-only black box, imho, which lays the blame on a convenient "other" -- while the truther theories laid the blame on an untouchable "new world order" -- but definitely American -- villain. Interesting how the quest to find the "real culprit" never ends ... that one-armed man seen fleeing into the night. Whatever.
Pro-Israel is so relative as to be meaningless... particularly here on MOA ... Putin is now "obviously" pro-Israel and pro-KSA by many people's standards ... even as the Batchelor segment assured us that Putin only acts in the furtherance of Putin's best interests (even Russia's interests coming second, because he's Putin, obviously) ... sigh.

I refer to him as Prince Reckless, a much more accurate name for him, imho. I do wonder how much the US is trying to rein him in, or if we're encouraging him to be the new "crusader" in the Middle East.

Joe Biden says we can't invade another Muslim country, at least not without Sunni regional allies as the spearhead.

The Hersh interview over at Alternet (thanks for the link!) mentioned the payoff by the Saudis to Pakistan (government?) to keep Bin Laden secure ... (I've guessed he was executed with their permission if not direct request to avoid his damage to the Kingdom if captured alive)

I've also seen occasional mention of a KSA protection payment directly to Al-Qa’eda ... "millions and millions" ... could these be the same thing?

I don't think Bin Ladin's or Al-Qa’eda "upkeep" cost much ... and I cant think of any expensive operations they've bankrolled (even 09/11 could have been handled by accumulated siphoned funds rather than a "sugar daddy") ...

What evidence that KSA (officially) bankrolled post-09/11 Bin Laden or Al-Qa’eda? or that the monies keeping Bin Laden alive and "secure" represented "funding terrorism"? (or is keeping the Bin Laden family in housed and provided with food and toilet paper "funding terrorism" because he-yet-breathes?)

Media bribery should be just as illegal as political bribery should be. And if it takes socializing the media to make it so, there are ways of doing that that would make the media much more democratic and diverse and REPRESENTATIVE!

Same information from different source but, the Daily Mail article missed this:

"But Netanyahu, in remarks published by Israeli reporters whom he briefed by phone on his talks on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said “there have been problems” regarding Israeli military freedom of operation in Syria."

oh, I think the "regrets" about not taking Assad out 2 years ago are a matter of "manufacturing consent" about whatever they do next .... it's not "real" Remember all there "regrets" about not having marched to Baghdad in GWI?? same deal... keep the hate alive and expand it. Our "moderate rebels" walked out of the peace negotiations because Assad was still in Damascus and his government still had a seat at the table ... crickets... more guns, more kid-gloves towards Erdogan ... looks to me like we're doubling down.

Salon has reprinted Hersh at Alternet and the comments are overwhelmingly anti-Hersh (as untrustworthy, even crazy, self-promoting conspiracy mongerer) -- the demonization of all doubters or suggestions of alternative narratives has been very effective ... see also what's happened to "transparency" and WikiLeaks / Assange ... there's an almost 360 degree convergence of demonization across the political spectrum -- the "liberals" having joined with the conservatives and the meta-conspiracy theorists having made everyone suspect. Obviously it's all too complicated for mere mortals (or citizens) to comprehend ... more manufactured consent.

Fred Kaplan at Slate link says it's boots on the ground time in Iraq per Ash Carter's announcements from Riyadh ... not many, but more combat (versus special ops) boots ... because after a couple years of Baghdad declaring they're gonna retake Mosul any-day-now ... the clock is ticking (or something). Kaplan adores Obama (even if he was initially dismayed, disbelieving that Obama campaign was based on lies) and is usually a fairly reliable conduit of the "deeply reasonable and considered" "Genius Obama" party line ... Utter folly ... as even Kaplan admits, unless things change radically, retaking Mosul (or any other victory against ISIS) will not solve the consequences of the subjugation and disenfranchisement of the Iraqi Sunni population ... (tellingly and ominously Syria is not mentioned)
(The Atlantic had a strange little article yesterday contending that the USA "really" could do little about ISIS ... that "patience and containment" was our best option ... link I took the article then as bolstering the administration position (and pro-KSA) since I have suspected that many in the USA would love to foster the believe that we can "live with" ISIS as long as it doesn't attack us ... on the theory it will "burn itself out" ... "benign neglect" wrt a vague other-side of the ocean threat ... I'm guessing now it was a trial balloon ... that largely fizzled)

@39 As I wrote before Saudi/Israeli collusion has been present for decades since they have the same masters, the same global criminal cabal from the City of London. "The dirt" on the puppets pretending to be independent "leaders", Turkish, Israeli or Saudi, has always been the same - some of them are mind controlled "Manchurian candidates", groomed for the role from their childhood by rape, sleep deprivation, urine blocking, confinement, drugs, so that later they do exactly what they are told; others are blackmailed because of their homosexuality, pedophilia, addictions, involvement in serious crimes like murder, including ritually sacrificing own relatives.

And most of the events being promoted by the presstitutes and media whores are staged as deception and cover for real operations. That was the case with the "Freedom Flotilla" that was set up to 1) eliminate, i.e. murder by the Israelis some Muslim Brotherhood dissidents 2) to create false impression about split between Erdogan and Satanyahoo regimes.

Most recent example is this fake "ridicule contest" about Erdogan contrasted with the troubles that that German journalist have.

The goal of such special media operations is always the same: to attack Russia-Germany alliance as the foundation for the new Eurasian block threatening current Brutish Empire thalassocracy and its weaning "muscle man" colony - New Atlantis, i.e. the USA (hence the "special relationship"), created by Kabalists John Dee (coined the term "Britannia", started the Empire, was known as the "007" spy) and protege Francis Bacon, who also gave the world modern English language and literature, William Shake-speare (i.e. Bacon's literary club worshiping the goddess Athena shaking her spear for enlightenment of the masses), King James Bible, Royal Society, English Grand Masonic Lodge.

Their successors (Rothshildes, Illuminati) continued with pirates (today their role is played by AQ, Boko Haram, Somali pirates, ISIL, Al Nusra...) East India Company, opium wars, first concentration camps, Tavistock (rock and roll) and eugenics, Wahabbism, Zionism, with sending British as handlers of important issues like the journalist Frost to "give you the truth about Nixon", or Pierce Morgan to shape the public opinion, and many, many others...

The City of London was the place until few days ago where the world gold price fixing took place (by the Rothshildes), where oil prices are set, where the derivatives financial scam flourishes, where the LiBOR scandal took place, where Germany and other nations' gold is kept hostage, and so on...

The greatest number of millionaires is in London. Also the most intense electronic surveillance - why?

Since November 6 2012 the empire cannot rely on the USA for doing the dirty work (e.g. like in Iraq, why do you think Schwartzkopf was knighted?) thus recently it's been desperately and hectically increasing its military force and presence in strategic regions, preparing for the final confrontation.

Not a coincidentally, KSA is fighting Al-Qa’eda in Yemen ... and Al-Qa’eda is actually now controlling significant territory ... obviously "we must support KSA in Yemen because Al-Qa’eda" ... even if the mothership has been radio silent for quite a long while recently ...

Recently I've seen European terorrists called "Isis in Europe" ... as if ISIS had a central command that was directing it's "operatives" -- Al-Qa’eda did have the appearance of a central command (in Yemen, I think going back to 2004, iirc, and the Madrid train station attack - also underwear bomber 2009 and shoe bomber 2001) ... or alternatively Yemen's Al-Qa’eda (or AQAP) had the best bombmakers and served as a resource, advisor Yemen Al-Qa’eda bomb maker.

Cockburn is not saying that we need to fight them on the beaches, more that we've created a power vacuum conducive to the growth of "terrorist groups" ... much more a replay of the Taliban "winning" the Afghan civil war ... than Iraq (imho) because it was the Iraqi government's policies of disenfranchisement of the Sunni (with our blessing) that led to ISIS ... I hate the title of that piece and I don't entirely agree with some of what Cockburn says ...
No one but me is likely to say -- out loud -- that Al-Qa’eda is preferable to ISIS ... or rejoice that Muktada al Sadr is back on the scene taking the Iraqi government to task (though Cockburn might agree with the latter).

A top Israeli military leader warned that Hezbollah had developed capabilities that present “unprecedented” threats to Israel. Major General Yair Golan, Israel’s deputy chief of staff, told international journalists on Wednesday that Tel Aviv estimates that Hezbollah has an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets and missiles. Golan said any future war will be “much harsher” than anything experienced in the past 20 years, and Israel will unleash all of its military capabilities. He warned: “that could create devastating damage to Lebanon.”

What worries me here is: is he implying the use of nuclear weapons? Israeli Zionism and their culture of being the persecuted "victim" that has to strike back no matter what the cost, scares me more than North Korea's Kim having his finger on the button. I have no doubt that Israel will use their nuc's in the middle east even if it takes themselves out.

I guess we will never really know who wags the USA, until we find out who controls the FED.

There exists the reciprocal matter of who controls whom; so both exchange goods, and hold damaging information to keep the other side "honest".

When a country becomes corrupt enough, it can legitimately be called a "thing" as Netanyahoo once privately referred to the USA, as a thing that can be easily manipulated. But this too could be evaluated as an expression of hubris, if not the words of a madman.

On the question of Israel "the punisher" using nuclear weapons in its own region,--especially within such close physical proximity to itself --Lebanon especially--upstream and possibly downwind in the case of fallout, it would seem to be downright irresponsible, to say the least.

In one of the plays of Sopocles (I believe) there is a line concerning incest: : "It is evil, and no one knows just how evil it is."

In the case of exceptionalism, it too is evil, and no one knows just how evil it is.

@72 propeace... on a different topic, do you think this is one reason the uk might brexit the eu? just curious..

also on the issue of the control of money for anyone interested, Nikolai Starikov gives a pretty good overview which you can either watch in this youboob video, or you can read the transcript of the video - which is what i like to do - at the bottom of the comment section from 6 days ago...

Israeli government finds it imperative to be "serious about security", and that entails vast exaggeration of threats faced by Toditme (The only democracy in the Middle East). It is not like Hezbollah would one day rain death upon Toditme out of the blue. All conflicts so far started by Israel killing some Lebanese, which sometimes leads to a massive exchange of fire and destruction, sometimes not. The last bout was roughly like that: Israel killed some officers of Hezbollah and from Iran as they were in south-west Syria, and not so long time later Hezbollah killed and wounded a few IDF troops. Then IDF had the last word: they killed a Spanish peacekeeper. It was a masterful decision: Hezbollah had no need to retaliate for a retaliation to a retalionship as it was not their man who got killed, Spain meekly made some noises (so far, they did not even sue) and IDF made the last shot so their doctrine was preserved.

Israeli concept of security requires periodical kills of the opponent and impunity for such actions. While 100,000 missiles in the hands of Hezbollah can be "sucked out of a finger", the real problem is that some of that stuff, while not that numerous, is much more capable from what Hezbollah used in the past, whole there exists easy to destroy factories and port facilities in Haifa. So here are the horns of the dilemma: either Israel will refrain from further killings that "preserve the operational edge", or it will be even more creative in phony retaliations. From Israeli perspective, such limitations are totally undignified and that can truly make them sick in their guts. So they should seriously consider stocking Beptobismol or some medicine developed in Israel that is even better.

There is no scenario on the horizon that would be solved better with nukes. Israel assumes that the missiles of Hezbollah are in highly dispersed bunkers. That makes it impractical to use bunker thrusters. The chief reason that Israel MUST have nukes is that their are weapons of Massive Moral Superiority. It goes like that: unlike the inferior enemies, IDF kills immeasurably fewer folks than it could, and any questions about IDF moral superiority (the most moral army in the world, take that, American Coast Guard!) are squashed with elan and esprit d'corp. Actual military usage has to wait for a genuine threat to national existence.

@80 james. Yes I think so. And Obama has just torpedoed that idea saying during his visit "if you leave the EU we won't support you". He also telegraphed (nomen omen) to the public in his interview the fact I have been writing about "But in his strongest warning to date, he said that for Britain to maintain its global influence, it must stay within the EU." In other words the UK still has [strong] global influence, despite the fact its empire is supposedly long gone... He also supports the "special transatlantic relationship" but with the whole EU.

It's also curious that Obama removed form the Oval Office the bust of Winston Churchill that GWB put there...

Also the US has just announced it supports more German troops in the Eastern Europe instead of American (if I recall correctly).

And last but not least

Syria's prime minister and foreign minister on Thursday accused European and regional powers of supporting terrorists and fuelling fighting in the country, in a defiant tone from Damascus after a halt to peace talks this week.

Prime Minister Wael al-Halaki said Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Britain and France did not want a political solution to the conflict.

"These regimes are working to escalate terrorist actions, support terrorists and destroy the cessation of hostilities agreement agreed by Russia and the United States," state news agency SANA quoted him as saying.

Unfortunately, neither the FT quote nor the Patrick Cockburn op-ed linked to the Independent, give any evidence of Saudi government financing of either al Qaeda or Islamic State.

The FT quote merely calls ISIS a Sunni (not Saudi) response to U.S. support for the Shia dominated government of Iraq. But even that is silly. Not long ago Moon of Alabama gave a description of the genesis of ISIS and a timeline. ISIS is an offshoot of al Qaeda in Iraq and al Qaeda existed long before the invasion of Iraq. Al Qaeda under Osama bin Laden had also alienated the Saudi government by publicly calling for its overthrow, labeling it a lackey of U.S. infidels for allowing the deployment of U.S. troops and bases there, and for allowing Saudi Arabia to be used as a staging ground for earlier (1990s) U.S. military actions against Iraq.

Cockburn's op-ed merely says that the Yemeni government in exile is Saudi based, and that the Saudi supported military actions in Yemen create anarchy in their wake which al Qaeda in Yemen might take advantage of.

We know that Saudi Arabia supported the Taliban before its leader, Omar, began publicly insulting its government under the tutelage of bin Laden. It would not surprise me to learn that some influential and wealthy Saudis, some of them in government, have supported al Qaeda, or that the Saudi government has supported the al Qaeda aligned al Nusra in Syria. But this isn't the smoking gun.

In reality, the missing 28 pages in the 9/11 report on possible high level Saudi involvement may not be as categorical or as damaging to the Kingdom as the fact of their continued non-publication. The secrets that Saudi Arabia has most interest in hiding may be rather different, and relate to allegations that between 1995 and 2001, two senior Saudi princes spent hundreds of millions of state funds paying off Osama bin Laden not to make attacks within Saudi Arabia, but leaving him free to do whatever he wanted in the rest of the world.

He doesn't say that he's seen them or how he knows this .... but it's definitely made me more interested in the release. I am concerned about some gas on the fire, wildfire Islamophobia ...

Obomba re Churchill;He said he removed it to put MLK in its place.Nice reply,as who could critique that?
Johnson was rightly on to something,as Obombas Kenyan(? he looks like Frank Marshall Davis to me)heritage would,in a real thinker, make him look askance at British colonialism if he was part Kenyan.
Exactly why we made a big mistake with him,as he seems anti
American to me,coming from the la la land of Hawaii,he had no idea of actual US degradation of main street America.A furriner.

No country has an interest in conflict with Iran, Obama says
US President Barack Obama said Thursday that neither the United States nor Arab Gulf nations had an interest in conflict with Iran.

"Even with the nuclear deal we recognise collectively that we continue to have serious concerns about Iranian behaviour", Obama said at the close of a summit in the Saudi capital with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

He referred to Iran's "destabilising activities" in the region but said: "None of our nations have an interest in conflict with Iran."

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"If you pay her well, you can verbally abuse her and she still gives a great .... ."

In what could certainly be one of the boldest infrastructure developments ever announced, the Russian Government has given the go-ahead to build a transcontinental railway linking Siberia with North America. The massive undertaking would traverse the Bering Strait with the world’s longest tunnel – a project twice the length of the Chunnel between England and France. The $65 billion project aims to feed North America with raw goods from the Siberian interior and beyond, but it could also provide a key link to developing a robust renewable energy transmission corridor that feeds wind and tidal power across vast distances while linking a railway network across 3/4 of the Northern Hemisphere.

The idea is actually not very new — Tsar Nicholas II dreamed of the railway and tunnel in 1905. The on-again off-again scheme would provide a vital economic resource for both Asia and Americas by providing an efficient link of not only goods and passengers but also fiber optic cables and transmission lines. The key is a 65-mile-long tunnel that would pass underneath the Big Diomede and Little Diomede islands in the Bering Strait. The tunnel, at a projected cost of $10-12 billion, is to be built in three sections and would cross the International Date Line, reconnecting the two land masses.

The high speed railway and tunnel will be a private public partnership whose economic impact could be startling. 100 million tons of freight could be moved per year using the most efficient known way of transport. Proposed tidal energy plants could provide 10 gigawatts of energy and a string of wind power fields could churn a constant supply of clean energy, serving as a vital link to a worldwide energy grid. The tunnel alone would take fifteen years to complete — and an energy and railway network would take many more — but the project would significantly change the shipping and energy industry.

In a time of austere measures by governments throughout the world we hear less and less of large-scale projects, but the economic and environmental benefits of developing critical infrastructure links is a key element to 21st century environmentally sound economic growth.

This is a joke. Simply check the distance from the Bering Strait to the nearest railroad on both side, or to a paved highway that is not a village street. About 2000 miles to south-west Russia has a railroad that does not have enough cargo to be profitable. On long distances water transport is cheaper than rail or road, even when both are available -- like in the Rhine River corridor. The only reason to use rail or road is that the river or ocean does not reach everywhere and because not all shippers are satisfied with the leisurely pace of cargo ships.

It is harder for me to evaluate "clean energy" potential of the Strait, but hydro-energy at such a remote location is hard to convert into profits.

I may be mistaken but my impression of China's new silk road is a deliberate attempt to stymie America's increasingly military presence of the oceans and threat of blockade or "incident" by not relying on "international waters" and conventions that the United States is attempting to control or mold. I figured the Bering Strait tunnel, like the Chunnel, like the new silk road, would leave us shaking our fists at something outside our control ... no, I didn't take it as "serious" about-to-be-a-reality ... but after we utterly freaked out about global warming opening polar territory under Russian control, something "amusing" to suggest.